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    Upgrading wifi card, compatibility?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Dan333SP, Dec 29, 2017.

  1. Dan333SP

    Dan333SP Notebook Consultant

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    I have a Dell Inspiron 5576. The laptop came with a Qualcomm qca9377. For whatever reason, that particular card no matter the drivers or settings I use will not play nice with my home wifi network. It has normal speeds on all other networks, but stutters and never gets more than 5-6 mb/s on a 50/50 network at home, while all my other devices show great speed.

    After a lot of hair pulling, I'm just going to buy a new card and replace it myself as I don't want to deal with Dell and cards are relatively cheap. Can anyone let me know some specific models that would be compatible? I've never replaced a wifi card before and am completely lost.

    Also, while opening the back panel I noted that the computer has an empty HDD bay. Mine came with a 256 gb SSD. Would any 2.5" drive work for that empty slot? Might as well add additional storage while I have it open.
     
    Dan333SP, Dec 29, 2017
    #1
  2. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Any half height WLAN card will work. I prefer Intel wireless cards. Dell doesn't whitelist WLAN cards like Lenovo or HP does.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Dec 29, 2017
    #2
    Starlight5 and Vasudev like this.
  3. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    See if these tweaks work for you Killer Wireless 1535 terrible signal range?
    Instead of Killer 1535 yours will be Qualcomm Atheros 9377
     
    Vasudev, Dec 29, 2017
    #3